The Masked Avenger
by joey the ripper
Summary: AU, the end of Darkly Dawns the Duck, What if Darkwing didn't survive? Gosalyn feels responsible for the loss of a hero, and realises that the city needs a replacement and soon, introducing The Masked Avenger, Gosalyn's going to fix things and fast!
1. Lost another

**Disclaimer:** And here we are, I'm still no closer to owning anything, Darkwing is still owned by Disney.

**Summary:** AU: Did Darkwing survive? Gosalyn feels responsible for the loss of a hero, and realises that the city needs a replacement and soon.

**Warning/s:** I'm in an angsty mood... and this is the result... but it won't be angst forever.

**The Masked Avenger.**

Chapter 1

**Lost Another.**

"_I'm sorry Darkwing. If they hadn't caught me you wouldn't have risked your life."_

"_Gos, before I met you, I didn't have a life worth risking."_

A Life Worth Risking? Gosalyn's mind hitched in an emotional sob. Was it a good thing? Giving Darkwing "A life worth risking" only to have it ended so soon? She sat up and left her bed, going to the window for the one millionth time in the past 3 days.

She looked out at the tower, at the reconstruction work taking place, at the city, at the bridge.

'Gosalyn?' Mrs Cavanaugh said stepping into the room, she saw Gosalyn once again at the window and sighed shaking her head, Gosalyn's high spirit that had previously been undefeated was fading

It'd been tough on the young girl, first her parents, then her grandfather, and now a stranger.

The incident on the tower was weighing heavily on her, though Mrs Cavanaugh didn't know the details what she had been told by the police officers painted a pretty clear picture, Gosalyn had latched onto Darkwing as a friend, a father, her hero... and then he'd been killed. The turmoil within her would have to be absolutely terrible.

'He's gone because of me.' Gosalyn said softly, gazing at her reflection in the glass 'It's **all** my fault!' She put her hand to the window pane to cover her reflection.

'There there, Gosalyn.' Mrs Cavanaugh said coming over and placing a hand on Gosalyn's shoulder 'It wasn't anybody's fault.' She said comfortingly 'Darkwing knew what he was doing.'

'That makes it even worse!' Gosalyn shook off the caring hand and went back to her bed; she dropped down on it and buried her face in the pillow. 'He _willingly_ died to save me.'

'Gosalyn...' Mrs Cavanaugh said turning to her. 'He died defending what is good and right in the world.'

Gosalyn took a deep breath and just hugged the pillow tightly to her.

'Gosalyn, your life isn't over.' Gosalyn made no movement to respond any further, well it'd been a start, Mrs Cavanaugh left the room quietly, at least she had managed to get _some_ response from her, it was a small step, but it was progress.

Gosalyn clenched her teeth fighting back all of her emotions, remembering what Darkwing had said when she _had_ tried to care about him.

"_Look kiddo, I appreciate the concern, really. But I knew this job was dangerous when I took it."_

She sighed and rolled onto her back, still holding her pillow she looked up at the ceiling 'I hope you lot are getting along with each other...' She closed her eyes 'What is it I **keep** doing wrong? Why do I keep losing everyone I care about?' She bit her lip. 'Well... I'm going to do this properly... as always.' She swung herself off of the bed and dropped her pillow back down on the sheets. 'I've got to say goodbye.' She walked from the room heading to Mrs Cavanaugh's office.

* * *

><p>Gosalyn knocked on the door. 'Come in.' Gosalyn pushed the door open and stepped in. 'Gosalyn? What's the matter?'<p>

'Nothing, Miss Cavanaugh... I was just wondering... can I...' She shifted on the spot and took a deep breath. 'Can I say "goodbye" to him?' She looked up from the floor and fixed her eyes on the Orphanage Director. 'Please... I want to do it properly, just like...' She gulped down on the lump in her throat. 'Like I did with the rest of my family.' She finished quietly.

Mrs Cavanaugh's face twitched through various thoughts: a glimmer of doubt, a glimmer of pity and finally the thought of how to do it. 'I'll see what I can do.' Mrs Cavanaugh stood and went over to Gosalyn. 'I can't make you any promises.' She put her hand on Gosalyn's shoulder. 'He's a masked hero after all...' She gave Gosalyn a weak smile. 'But I'll certainly try.'

Gosalyn nodded. 'Thanks Mrs Cavanaugh.' She said smiling weakly back.

'Now run along and get something to eat.'

Gosalyn gave a nod and left the room, well it'd gone better than she had expected it too.

* * *

><p>Gosalyn looked out of the window as the car drove across the bridge. "is he really gone?" She wondered looking up at the towers, she frowned and shook her head, he was gone... no one had managed to find his body, but that didn't mean he was still alive.<p>

The car entered the city and pulled up in front of a government building.

Gosalyn hopped out and looked around, then headed up the stairs and into the building, the adult accompanying her followed her to the reception desk. 'Hello, I'm from the Orphanage, Mrs Cavanaugh rang earlier.'

The receptionist nodded. 'I'll let them know that you're here.' She said picking up the phone.

'Thank you.'

The two sat down and waited quietly until a man in a black suit came out and looked at them. 'Hello I'm Charles Moss' He said. 'You must be Gosalyn.' He said looking at her. 'We'll talk in my office.'

Gosalyn stood and looked to her supervisor, who gave her an encouraging nod and Gosalyn followed the man.

'Please take a seat.' He said gesturing to the couch; Gosalyn sat down and waited as he closed the door. 'I understand that you and Darkwing were close.' He said. 'I'm sorry.'

'What do you mean? Did you find his body?' She sat up straighter.

'I'm afraid not, it seems that both he and Taurus Bulba were...' He frowned and didn't continue, he went to his desk. 'All that we _were_ able to find were these.' He pulled out a bag and walked over to her and handed it to her, she pulled out the burnt fedora and gas gun, she held them both for a long moment looking at them sadly, tears came to her eyes and she tried to force them back.

'I'm sorry Darkwing.' She said softly.

'We also found what we imagine was his cape.' He said 'It didn't hold up for long.' He frowned. 'Ordinarily in such tragic situations we would give the personal effects.' He nodded to the bag. 'To a family member, but since no one can be sure who Darkwing Duck _really_ was we have no way of contacting his family... so we'll give them to you.'

Gosalyn looked at him. 'Really?' She asked. 'Thank you.'

He gave a nod. 'On behalf of everyone in Law Enforcement I'd like to tell you that Darkwing will be missed greatly.' Gosalyn nodded barely listening, just staring at the hat. 'He was a great crime fighter and an asset to this fair city.'

Gosalyn nodded 'He was the best.'


	2. The Tower

Chapter 2

**The Tower**

Gosalyn looked through the newspaper, Canard Tower was being opened up again.

She frowned and pushed her bowl of cereal away, one full year later and they'd finished the reconstruction work.

She turned the page and shook her head, a year without Darkwing Duck certainly brought the criminals out, she glanced through the list of crimes, Megavolt, as usual, was on the top of the list.

She shut the paper and put it down on the table and left the room.

She was still here in the orphanage, and there was absolutely no one to stop the rise in crime, she dropped down on her bed and sighed.

What the city needed was a hero to show up, to step in and replace Darkwing, but no one had the courage to do it.

She reached under her pillow and put Darkwing's old fedora on her head. 'Any ideas on how things _should_ be fixed Darkwing?' She waited for some kind of answer, but, as usual, she didn't get one.

She folded her arms and shrugged. 'You know, if _I_ was out there I'd be teaching that lot a lesson.' She said simply. 'And you would be too, Darkwing.' She sighed 'That is, if you were still here.' She frowned.

She stood and started pacing. 'It's all my fault that you're not here to save the day... it's all my fault that this lot is off doing all of this bad stuff.' She stopped and looked to the window 'I think it's time I started cleaning up my messes.' She said as she looked around the empty dorm room and picked up the picture of her grandfather. 'Right Grandpa?'

* * *

><p>Gosalyn pulled her bag out from under her bed and put it over her shoulders; she put Darkwing's hat on and crept out of the room and into the hall.<p>

She crept quietly down to the doors to the orphanage and slipped outside.

She walked quickly and quietly through the streets avoiding the various people who were out and managed to find her way onto the bridge.

Now how was she going to get up to the tower? She wondered about it 'Well, there's always the entrance _we_ used.' She said simply heading down to the docks.

* * *

><p>Gosalyn looked around the tower, it was exactly the same as the last time she had been here only there was a layer of dust over everything, she frowned, if Darkwing had gotten back the place wouldn't still be in the mess that she'd left it in.<p>

She frowned and put her bag on the ground. 'Darkwing?' She called, no answer came.

She started to wander the tower, looking for some sign of her masked hero.

She found no one, but what she _did_ find was a library full of books, a closet of spare Darkwing outfits, and a makeshift laundry.

She climbed up to the computer and gazed around.

Darkwing was _definitely_ a rocket scientist at some point having put all of this together.

She pressed a random button and the screen came to life, she backed away slightly and watched the screen showing a radar that whirled around scanning the entire city.

She smiled. 'Keen Gear!' She said going back to the controls 'He can see _anything_ from here!' She pressed another button and the scanner stopped, she pressed another button and the image disappeared.

'I would _love_ to have one of these!' Gosalyn said looking over the controls eagerly and felt her stomach grumble suddenly, she sighed. 'Well, I didn't eat much today so I guess...' She trailed off heading down to the kitchen, the fridge was still out of place and she frowned as she looked from the spring loaded floor panel to the big fridge. 'Er... Suppose it'd be better to just leave it there for the moment.' She said.

What was in the cupboards was old and out of date, she shrugged. 'Oh well, I guess even superhero's have to shop for food.' She looked around the tower again, conveniently finding a jar labelled "Grocery Money" she opened it up and pulled out a few notes. 'Keen Gear!' She looked them over in awe. 'That's a whole lot of bills!' She put a few of them back in the jar and looked around. 'So how am I going to get...' She caught sight of a cupboard she _hadn't_ opened yet and went to it.

Inside were strange canisters and gadgets, she pulled out the gas gun and picked up the grapple. 'I wonder how it's supposed to...' She stuffed the container end into the mouth of the gun and blinked. 'Okay, so it fits...' She pointed it up to the ceiling and pressed the trigger.

The grapple launched and hit one of the support beams, Gosalyn let go of the trigger and was suddenly jerked upwards as the rope retracted; she took hold of the gun in both hands and held on for dear life.

Close to the ceiling Gosalyn pressed the trigger again and swung out of the window, she found herself being lowered to the ground and blinked in amazement as she double clicked the trigger. The grapple released and the rope retracted again, Gosalyn smiled as the grapple returned to the gun. 'Thanks Darkwing.' She said quietly. 'You really thought of everything.'

* * *

><p>Holding two bags full of groceries Gosalyn got up on the support beam and headed slowly up to the tower, it hadn't even occurred to her before, but with two bags of food in her arms she was in no position to go the other ways.<p>

'Alright.' She climbed down and headed into the kitchen.

She dropped the bags on the bench and started unpacking. 'Let's see, cereal.' She put the boxes in the cupboard. 'Eggs' She looked over to the fridge and considered the power cable that was stretched to its full extent. 'I'm sure Darkwing's got an extension cord somewhere around here.' She placed the eggs in the fridge along with the milk. 'And of course the bread.' She put it away too. 'Well, it's not much but it'll do for a bit.' She stowed the bags in another cupboard and walked out into the tower. 'Right...' She yawned. 'First things first...' She headed sleepily up the stairs and sat down on the bed, she undid her shoelaces and got under the sheets. 'Tomorrow I'll get things started.' She hugged the pillow and snuggled deeper into the bed feeling comfortable, she closed her eyes and let the calm quiet of the tower lull her to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>An: I work with the theory that in the right situation, at the right time, a person can change dramatically and will take a stand, under this theory Gosalyn's a whole lot more mature in the way she's acting, of course it _is_ just an act and she is still that little girl somewhere beneath it all. I hope that helps explain some of the weirdness... hang on, this is AU, I've already explained it... the weirdness now makes sense!_


	3. Brief Training

_A/N: Alright, enough shenanigans, this is the a very short third chapter... and there's a Top Gear quote in here, find it if you can._

Chapter 3

**Brief Training**

Gosalyn considered the shelves of the library, after breakfast she had investigated the other accessories that the gas gun came with, it wasn't a very dangerous weapon but it certainly was handy, and after her "less than careful" approach to her investigation of the gas cylinders she was grateful to find a book on making gas gun _ammunition._

Gosalyn put the book down on the study table and went back to the shelves.

'There's gotta be something _useful_ about fighting crime in here!'

She pulled out a book and flicked through it, chucking it aside quickly. 'Nope.' She considered the topmost shelf and looked around. 'Gee, I sure hope he has a ladder around here somewhere.'

She trailed her finger along the book-spines as she walked along looking for a ladder to reach the higher shelves.

'Bingo!' She ran over to the large wheeled ladder and pushed it along to stand in the doorway.

'I think I'll start on the top shelf and work my way down.' She said as she started climbing the ladder.

* * *

><p>The two large piles of books grew, the ones she deemed of use were stacked up on the table and the ones she thought weren't much use to her were discarded on the floor in the middle of the room.<p>

Having emptied the shelves entirely Gosalyn was now sitting at the desk reading through the useful books.

'He must've spent _years_ training himself in this stuff.' Gosalyn concluded as she flicked through a book on Quack Fu.

Gosalyn shrugged. 'Well, how hard could it be?' She asked as she hopped out of the chair and walked into a clear space.

'Let's see...' She put the book down on the floor and took the stance mentioned. 'Right, tiger stance.' She glanced down at the pictures. 'Now spring forward and-' Gosalyn tried the peculiar front flip and collapsed on her back.

'Darn.' She grumbled to herself as she gazed up at the ceiling for a few moments. 'Right!' She jumped up and took her spot again. 'I'm gonna get this.' She said as she once again took the first stance.

'Maybe if I...' She put her weight on her left foot and used it to spring forward instead, her hands touched the floor and she landed in a heap again. 'Well I got the first bit.' She said as she got up rubbing her back in pain, she headed back to her spot quickly. 'Okay, so landing's gonna be the hard part...'

She furrowed her brow as she gazed at the picture of flips and rolls when would she _ever_ need to use this gymnastics? She shrugged, getting the front flip and the roll would help her learn the other moves. 'I'm gonna deserve a black belt after this.'


End file.
